Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saab, Rover, and more, all once huge brands that took the world by storm, each gave its own special mark on the motoring world, each had sales in the millions, had factories/workers around the globe, and millions of workers over the years, yet what these and more have in common is they are no longer around, all either closed by parent companies or bankrupt, and with it, the loss of great companies, workers and some stunning cars.
Since 2008 the world has been in free fall, mass redundancies, closures, cut backs and pay freezes, the world over, nowhere has been exempt from the financial meltdown that occurred 6 years ago, so I ask, why launch a brand new car company now, as nearly all manufacturers are cutting back, and saving money, but then i think why not, maybe it is a genius stroke, wait until the worst is over and then slowly but surely ease your way in, as people were wary of spending large sums, the purse strings are now starting to loosen, and with it the chance to try something new.
But it is still a massive gamble, Lexus has still to make a profit, Infiniti is draining profits from parent company Nissan, Mazda dumped its sister brand Xedos some years ago, Smart has not been a success for Daimler, so what can QOROS bring to the table that all these others have not, well, not much, the first model launched for sale the QOROS 3 Sedan is a decent first attempt, along with the hatch and wagon to come, the hatch is being launched at Geneva shortly, and NCAP awarded the car its highest possible recognition as "best in class 2013", you cant get better than that.
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| QOROS 3 Sedan |
But is it enough, not bad looks, great Safety, interiors that look the part, decent power-trains and the back up of one of China's biggest automotive car makers (Chery) and, a somewhat weird partner in Israel Corporation, an Israeli government part owned private corporation that has, at first glance NO commercial interest in any automotive building process, either now or in the past, so apart from money what can they offer, well, they offer an easy access to that part of the world when QOROS
goes global, and little else at this point, unless i can be shown an alternative.
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| QOROS 3 Interior |
Chery on the other hand was introduced to the world in 1997 by the Chinese Government and is still state owned, a number of their products, like other Chinese Auto-makers have benefited from "looking" very similar to other brands cars, one such, being the Chery QQ, which GM had issue with, as it was nearly identical to its own Chevy Matiz, but time has moved on, Chery has now a number of partnerships, most notably Jaguar Land Rover, which is due to come on stream shortly, and the push for QOROS
carries on.
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| QOROS 3 |
At the outset, when the company was set up in 2007, the work started and only 4 years later, October 2011, the first prototype was produced, not bad for a ground up corporation, and two months later, first official images were issued, it was from here that the work really begun, because once you release the images, you then have something that's available for people to query and question, so it was no surprise that in March 2013, at the 83rd Geneva Motor Show, the first production based car was on display, The QOROS 3 Sedan, but it did not stop there, they also had the "3" Estate Concept and "3" Cross hybrid Concept all on display too.
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| QOROS 3 Cross Hybrid Concept |
QOROS, are not playing, they are deadly serious, they have the talent, they have selected some of the best talent around, starting with Gert Hilderbrand, head of design, who had a glowing career at BMW and MINI as well as Mitusbishi Design Europe, head designer at SEAT, and also major wok on the Golf MK3, amongst many other very talents key personnel there is Klaus Schmidt, the former chief engineer of vehicle performance at BMW, the former chief engineer at Jaguar Land Rover, Peter Matkin and Roger Malkusson, a former chief engineer at SAAB, so you can clearly see they have the talent, all they need is the product.
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| QOROS Flagship Concept |
The designs and specs were signed off and the QOROS 3 Sedan made production with the first car being sold to the general public in China at the back end of last year, not bad considering at the start of 2007 the company did not exist, so with the hard work done, where to next, well, that's obvious, carry on building and selling in China, pushing the brand with great marketing and pricing, and once the Chinese market has been satisfied, the push into other Asian markets and onto Europe, with its great safety reputation the European market will be more willing to accept this Chinese car in a way they have avoided the MG brand that has failed to achieve anything near poor sales, let alone good.
Can the brand be sold in the US, for now, I don't think so, the US market is very fickle, and the opinionated buyer will assume that the QOROS brand will be like other brands, with less than good records of safety and reliability, but they will be wrong, for first look, the QOROS brand seems to be well sorted, and it can be ring fenced from the Chinese reputation, but that will be hard, because at the end of the day, it will either be known as the Chinese brand or the Israeli brand, neither of which will go down well in the good ole US of A, so to get to Europe first and get a reputation for good quality, reasonable priced cars, that offer a little more than the norm is how they should be advertised, once Europe has been conquered, if that's the right word, then who knows, the world.
When the brand comes to the UK, and no date or confirmation has been made, but there is a QOROS UK company already set up, it will be a welcome breath of fresh air to shake up a stodgy market, I for one cant wait to see the QOROS brand here, and the sooner the better.
JON MOWER
